Chapter One
This has been sitting in my documents for a long time now. It was meant to be a one shot but then I realized that maybe it would make a better short story.
This is after the Terminus fiasco and before Alexandria. It's pretty Au because Merle is alive and he was the one that was with Carol while the group was separated.
This was another one that I didn't expect to post because it isn't really anything special. I like when Merle goes out of his way to intervene in Daryl's life so I wrote this because of that. And he's funny and I like funny. Lol
The day was strangely quiet. It was one of those days that a man could pretend the world was just like it had been before. The birds were singing and there was a breeze blowing through the trees causing the leaves to whisper quietly. They hadn't seen any signs of walkers in days. They were holed up in an old boarded up farmhouse they found at the end of a long dirt drive. They were all still trying to recover from the hell they had barely escaped. Most of them still licking their psychological wounds that their time at Terminus had left them with.
There was creek not far away. Daryl had managed to come back with meat every day and there were fruit trees on the property. For now, they were clean, fed and rested. No one was stupid enough to let their guard down. Even the baby was strangely quiet.
Daryl and Merle were in the back yard, lying in the tall grass under a shade tree, enjoying the uncommon quiet. He knew it wouldn't last too long since it was Merle. Merle didn't believe in keeping quiet for long. He stared up at the sky through the twisted limbs of the tree and waited.
"How long you think that friend of yours will let us hunker down here?" Merle asked after about thirty more seconds of silence.
Daryl shrugged. "Don't know. Couple more days maybe. Ain't really talked to him." He closed his eyes and folded his arms behind his head.
Merle grunted and let silence prevail for another half minute or so. "Where ya think she got them pants?"
Daryl cracked open one eye and glanced at him. "What the hell are you talkin' about?"
Merle raised up on his elbows and stared towards the house. Daryl followed his gaze and scowled. Carol was there in front of the house, her back to them as she leaned into the low banister of the back porch. She was looking up at Abe and Rosita who were talking to her about something, both of them leaning into the railing and looking down at her.
"It wasn't till it was just me and her out there for those few days that I really noticed it," Merle said, his eyes still on her.
"Noticed what?" Daryl asked, leaning up on his own elbows.
Merle grinned. "Them legs. That was the first thing I noticed. Those are the kind of legs just achin' to wrap around a man"
Daryl's eyes raked over the length of her legs.
"Sometimes I'd end up sayin' somethin' that pissed her off and she'd storm up ahead of me and that's when I noticed her ass." Merle sat up the rest of the way, his eyes not leaving her.
Daryl followed suit. It wasn't like he'd never noticed that she had a great ass before. He wasn't stupid and he wasn't blind. "So what?" He grumbled.
"You know what would make her ass look even better?" Merle went on.
Daryl glared at him, knowing where this was going because he knew Merle.
"It'd look better with my hand print across it. That's the kind of ass that's beggin' to be slapped."
Daryl sat up all the way. "Quit talkin' about her like that. She wouldn't give your ugly ass the time of day."
Merle finally tore his eyes away from her and looked at him. "You don't think so? You don't think me and her didn't do a little bonding while it was just the two of us out there? It's a lonely world, little brother. A woman can feel damn alone in a world like this. I don't see anybody else goin' after it. Might as well toss the offer at her myself since the rest of you with somethin' swingin' is too chicken shit or to busy moping around to throw her a little taste."
He thought about that for a few long moments while Merle went back to staring at her ass. "Put your eyeballs back in your head, asshole. She don't need you sniffin' around." He felt anxiety stir in his chest and wasn't even sure why.
Merle shook his head. "Nah, you had your chance. Had your chance every goddamn day when we was living large at the prison. Everybody seen them doe eyed looks she would shoot your way. You shrugged her off. Probably did some damage to her ego."
That anxiety shot up a few notches and he pulled his legs up to his chest. "You're full of shit. She ain't like that. Leave her the hell alone, Merle."
Merle barked out a laugh, his blue eyes narrowing. "Ain't like what? I got to know her out there, little brother. We had a lot of time on our hands and nothin' to do but get to know each other better. There's a fire in that woman. Every one of you mother fuckers walk around here like you're already dead but not her. A woman like that needs somebody." He took a deep breath and grinned. "I'm tellin' you, I know these things. I can smell it from here. You can almost feel it when she walks by. She needs a good rough and tumble."
Daryl was about to tell him to shut the fuck up but he didn't have a chance. Merle pushed up off the ground and without a backwards glance he sauntered over to the porch. Abe and Rosita gave Carol a small wave and went inside. Merle stood there as Carol faced him with an easy smile on her face.
He watched them for a few minutes, Merle smiling away and her laughing at the dumb shit he was saying to her. He was too far away to hear what they were saying but it looked like they were getting along pretty well. They both sat down on the porch step, sitting closer than they needed to.
Merle wasn't the greatest guy in the world. Daryl knew that. Hell, everybody knew that. But the truth was, he wasn't quite as bad as people thought. What he did to Glenn wasn't really a whole lot different than what Daryl had done to that Randal kid way back on Hershel's farm. Glenn hadn't been anything to Merle. All Merle knew was that Glenn could get Merle to Daryl and he wasn't giving up the location. Maybe Merle had gone a little overboard. Or a lot overboard. But people didn't understand Merle like Daryl did.
Merle was a lot better than Ed had been. Merle wouldn't treat her bad. He wouldn't blow her off like Daryl had done and he wouldn't force her from her home and her family like Rick had done. If he thought about it really hard, Merle was a hell of a match for her. Maybe he wouldn't have been two years ago but she wasn't the same woman, Merle wasn't the same man. Who the hell was he to begrudge them if they could find a little bit of happiness in this shit hole world?
He scowled, turning his head and spitting off to the side. The thought left a bad taste in his mouth. She was looking at Merle, smiling indulgently and then she nodded. Whatever she had just agreed to had Merle grinning, and had Daryl's stomach churning. That low down dirty son of a bitch! Daryl stood up at the same time she did. She patted Merle on the shoulder and then walked into the house.
Daryl stomped over to where Merle was still sitting on the back step and picking at a hole in his pants. "What the hell did you say to her?" Daryl spat, unable to mask the anger in his voice. He didn't even know where it came from, but it was there, causing the muscles in his jaws to twitch.
Merle glanced up from under his brow and shrugged. "I offered to keep watch if she felt like goin' down to that swimmin' hole downstream and get herself cleaned up. Seems like everybody else is too busy to do the woman a favor. Lucky for her, I ain't busy at all."
"You? You're gonna go keep watch for her while she... Merle, if you think I'm gonna let you go down there you're outta your fuckin' mind!" He barked.
"Aww, look at you," Merle grinned. "Ain't you got somethin' else to do? Like walk your ass back over there while your big brother scratches an itch that poor woman's lived with for a long time?"
Daryl heard his teeth grind together as he shook his head. "She didn't agree to go down there and fuck you, Merle. I know her better than that."
He shrugged. "Nah, she didn't agree to nothin' like that at all. But that don't mean I can't bring it up. And hell, even if I don't, least I'll get a peak that I can carry around with me for a while. Either way, she ain't gonna have any clothes on."
"You ain't takin' her down there."
"Well she can't very well go by her damn self. To dangerous out there. Predators all over now days. Don't worry about it. I'll take good care of her. I won't do a damn thing to her that she ain't beggin' me to do after a while."
"Merle, if you do this I swear to God I'm gonna-"
"Hey, you ready?"
Daryl's head came up at the sound of her voice and Merle glanced over his shoulder. She offered them both a smile but the one she gave Daryl was a little hesitant.
Merle sighed. "Change of plans. He's gonna go with you. I forgot that I had shit to do."
Her brows shot up and her eyes landed on Daryl's. "You? I didn't know you liked to swim."
Daryl frowned. "What?"
Carol held up a bag. "Swimming. We were gonna swim. If I thought you'd be interested in going then I would have asked you too. I just asked Tara and Eugene but they're on watch and Abe and Rosita are helping Sasha with something else."
"Swimming?" Daryl asked, his face flaming.
She nodded. "Yeah. It's hot and we haven't seen any walkers. I've been wanting to go for days but no one would go with me."
He looked down at Merle. Merle who was grinning up at him like an evil bastard. "Swimming?" He asked, glaring at Merle.
"Yep, just like I told you, little brother." He winked. That dirty rotten bastard winked at him. "Just an innocent trip to a swimming hole. I checked it out myself. Waters clear as tears straight to the bottom. No walkers in there and the place is so damn overgrown with thickets it'd trip up any dead. I cleared a path and that should be about the only thing you gotta keep your eyes on while you're down there."
"Don't you dare tell me you aren't going. I've been waiting for this for days," she said, sounding like she was fully prepared for him to tell her he wasn't going to go with her.
"Yeah, I'm goin'. Just give me a minute," he said, trying to keep the anger out of his voice.
She smiled, looking relieved. "Okay, I'll go grab another towel and then we'll go."
He nodded but didn't even look at her as she hurried back into the house. Merle leaned back and eyed him. "You can thank me later."
Daryl reached out and whacked him in the side of the head. "You asshole!" He hissed.
Merle chuckled and rubbed at the spot. "Oh, come on. You were so pissed off that I might go after a taste you was seein' red."
"She wasn't even goin' down there to get naked. Now she expects me go fuckin' swimmin' with her. What the hell is wrong with you?"
"She ain't plannin' on getting naked but that don't mean you can't get her that way."
Daryl opened his mouth to say something but Merle cut him off, all joking left his face.
"Listen, I know we've all been ran through the goddamn wringer, alright? I know that we keep getting shit heaped onto our heads left and right. I know how you deal with that. You fuckin' pull back and you push people the fuck away. I ain't lettin' you do that. You can't tell me your stupid ass don't feel somethin' for that woman. And we both know what that is. I care about you too goddamn much to watch you fuck this up for yourself. So be pissed off. Stomp around and throw your fit. Whack me in the head again if that makes you feel any better, but goddamn it, don't fuckin' push her away. She's the only good goddamn thing you have in this world and tomorrow she could be gone. So you march your ass to that goddamn swimmin' hole and you nut up and if you can't tell her that you fuckin' love her then you show her. You come back and ain't done either and I swear to Christ some time tonight I'm gonna fuck that woman so hard she don't know your goddamn name no more. You get what I'm tellin' you?"
Daryl stood there, his heart feeling like a jackhammer in his chest as he turned over every word Merle had just thrown at him. It was true. That was exactly what he was doing and he hadn't even realized it. But Merle had. He saw a lot more than people thought he did.
He ran a hand through his hair and glanced at the door she was sure to come through any second. Finally he stuck his finger in Merle's face, meeting his eyes with a hard stare. "I catch you lookin' at her goddamn ass like that again and I'm gonna scoop your eyeballs out of your head and shove'em right down your throat."
Merle grinned and then the door opened.
"You ready?" She asked excitedly.
He nodded, giving Merle one more hard look before he fell into step beside her.